Free Republic

MONTEREY — In the days leading up to Halloween, a rare all-white dolphin named “Casper” has been frequenting the Monterey Bay. But sighting the perplexing creature isn’t a trick of the eyes, or just a spooky Halloween treat. The dolphin actually visits the region quite often, according to Nancy Black, a marine biologist with Monterey Bay Whale Watch.... ..Black and other scientists think the dolphin is around 9 years old — still a juvenile since Risso’s can live up to 35 years. Casper frequently travels with his mother and has been seen as far north as Davenport, with pods of...

There’s a new type of killer whale that prowls deeper waters and specializes in hunting big game, new research by a B.C. scientist suggests. ...But evidence indicates there’s a newly identified type of orca — outer coast killer whales — that are a distinct subgroup of transient whales, and which frequent the ocean depths along the continental shelf off the coast of central California and Oregon, said lead author Josh McInnes, a scientist with the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia. Once believed to be part of the larger West Coast population, these outer coast killer...